Hi Rachael. Great questions! Those high dilution rates (20% and 10%) are just so you can smell your EO blend mixed with a carrier oil to see if you like it or not. All carrier oils smell different, and they can effect how your blend smells in the end. That’s why I recommend testing your EO blends in different carrier oils at different dilutions to see what you like best. And, because the smells of EO blends change depending on what they’re mixed with, it’s always a good idea to test them in small batches before making bigger batches (hence using drops and not teaspoons or ounces!). Once you know what you like, you can then move on to making larger amounts of preblended oils (EO blend + carrier oil) for skin application using a lower dilution rate (3-5% for adults and anywhere from .25-1% for children depending on their age). This is my article on using EOs for children safely. There is a lot of different opinions on using EOs for kids. Since I’m not a trained aromatherapist, I tend to take the safe route with it comes to EOs. Hope this helps answer your questions a bit!! PS. Just for the record, higher dilution rates are often used in bath products (body wash, shampoo, shave creams, etc.) as they don’t sit on the skin, but are washed off fairly quickly. This decreases the amount of EO absorption you would have, therefore, higher percentages of EOs can go in those products so they smell stronger.
Personally (I use less than most) I do one of lavender, one of orange…. But it’s for my 2 yr old daughter’s room at night. Most people (from reading/talking to people) use between 5-10 drops in theirs. For even me, I find that amount overwhelmingly strong. You can use one oil, or a blend of your own making. I’m newer to oils as well, so I haven’t tried too many, but if you don’t like a scent you need to use just do one drop, and two+ of a more pleasing scent. You can use them all, or just one it’s really up to you.
Essential oil blends are diluted differently depending upon a persons age and the use you have for it. For example, an infant would need a 1% dilution where an older child would do fine with a 2.5% dilution. Adults are usually around a 5% dilution. These dilutions would be for massage oils or therapeutic uses. For cleaning or air fresheners, you may use the 5% dilution or stronger… it just depends on where it’s being used and how.
I’ve heard some really good things about CBD oil. I haven’t studied it enough to have an opinion, but it looks promising. As far as using essential oils for your autism goes, I’d suggest talking with a clinical aromatherapist as they’ll be the best person to help you identify the right oils to help you move in the direction you want to go. Best of luck, and thanks for your comment!
Ever since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published their landmark study in 2013, it has become glaringly obvious that we have a sleep disorder epidemic on our hands that has significant ramifications on our health. (1) At first glance, it may be easy to dismiss sleep deprivation as something that only causes us to be “groggy” or feel tired. Nothing could be further from the truth! Sleep literally affects every aspect of the abundant life and not getting the necessary amount every night can absolutely cripple us physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, and professionally.
I’ve heard some really good things about CBD oil. I haven’t studied it enough to have an opinion, but it looks promising. As far as using essential oils for your autism goes, I’d suggest talking with a clinical aromatherapist as they’ll be the best person to help you identify the right oils to help you move in the direction you want to go. Best of luck, and thanks for your comment!
Thank you SO MUCH for your information in regards to the so called “therapeutic Essential Oils” I long suspected there was no such thing and it is a Marketing ploy for these two companies in question as well, I have been personally challenged by doTERRA consultants because my Essential oils are much cheaper than theirs, but I purchase Pure essential oils, bottle and resell, I have had no complaints in 17 years, your information has helped me feel much more secure in what I am doing?Kind regards Linda
Back in the early days of Growing Up Herbal, I made herbal skincare products for children and sold them on Etsy. Those days were full of hurdles… learning about setting up shop, getting comfortable marketing my business, and refining my product line. Business was slow, and I felt like I’d never get ahead and have a successful shop. Sales trickled in sporadically. Customers would make small purchases, but they rarely came back to buy again. My products were never featured anywhere, and traffic to my shop was pitiful.
I recently took a class at my university on the use of essential oils and my professor mentioned that in rare cases peppermint can be extremely dangerous in children under 6. I believe Amplatz Children’s Hospital in Minnesota uses spearmint rather than peppermint as it produces similar effects. Please follow the link bleow for more information about this under the Special Considerations section. If you also find this information concerning I would suggest removing peppermint from your children’s top ten list.
I’m a big proponent of using natural, mind-body therapies to create better sleep, both by helping sleep directly and by relieving stress, anxiety, low mood, and physical discomfort. The practice of aromatherapy can do all these things. Essential oils have been used for centuries to promote relaxation and mental and physical wellness. Today, these same oils are increasingly being studied by scientists in search of a more rigorous, specific understanding of their benefits to sleep and health.
In the United States alone, more than 40 million people suffer from chronic sleep disorders, and another 20 million suffer from acute sleep problems. These disorders can range from chronic insomnia to daytime sleepiness, restless leg syndrome, and various other sleep problems related to substance abuse, anxiety, depression, medication interactions and chemical imbalances. Pharmaceuticals prescribed for sleep disorders can often have extreme side effects and leave people feeling sluggish throughout their day. Experts recommend 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep per day for adults, yet in our fast-paced and demanding modern world, this can be very difficult.
JASMINE. A sweetly floral scent, jasmine appears to have serious sleep-promoting capabilities. Research shows jasmine improves sleep quality and cuts down on restless sleeping, as well as increasing daytime alertness. A 2002 study showed that jasmine delivered all of these sleep benefits, as well as lowering anxiety, even more effectively than lavender.
Pharmaceutical sleeping medications, as most modern medications, come with a host of side effects, with some being known to be addictive and eventually even affecting memory and attention span. Of course, not all sleeping pills are alike. Some are actually anti-anxiety meds, some depress the central nervous system and are sedative, some affect melatonin or brain chemistry, and others simply make it easier to fall asleep.
Our sense of smell is directly wired to the brain’s centers of memory and emotion. Cells inside the nose detect smells in our environment, and send information to the brain, via the olfactory nerve. (We also have a cluster of cells the top of the throat that detect scents from the food we consume, and pass that information along the same olfactory channel to the brain.) The information about smell does immediately to the limbic system of the brain, which includes regions like the amygdala that control emotional reactions and memory.
Great points Angie. I really love the work Lea Harris is doing at LearningAboutEOs.com when she tests all the different oils and shows the results. Even the big companies are noticing and thanking her for doing that… including doTERRA and Young Living… which says a lot about the companies not minding other people testing their products because they have confidence in what they’re selling.

Essential oil diffuser blends work in diffusers of any size, you will just have to adjust how many drops of oil you put into your water tank if you have a larger diffuser with a bigger reservoir. The diffuser blends I mix are made for 150-200 ml sized diffusers. You’ll find a chart below that helps you figure out how many drops to put into your diffuser. Most diffusers also come with a water cup that lets you accurately fill the desired amount of water into your unit.

If it were me EYG, I’d Google “safe essential oils for dogs” and get a list to go by. Then I’d Google “bug repelling essential oils” and compare the two lists. Cross off any EOs on the bug repellant list that aren’t safe for dogs. Next, I’d put the oils you have left into their notes and categories and try to find 3-4 bug repelling oils that can be paired together and still smell nice and well-rounded. You can combine these EOs together using the percentage rule mentioned in the post and label it with “bug repellant EOs for dog”. When you’re ready to use it, mix it into your carrier oil at the appropriate dilution and you should be good to go. Hope that helps!
What would your recommendation be when making blends not for scent but for therapeutic use such as in skincare? I want to try adding essential oils to my skin care routine, specifically adding them to a basic, existing lotion. I’ve done my research and have a bunch of oils selected that are supposed to be helpful for skin care, but I’m not sure where to go from here! Do I figure out the dilution % for each one and add it to the lotion? Or do I need to only add a maximum amount of essential oils in total? Is there a maximum number of oils you can use at one time or a maximum percentage of oils in total that can be safely added? Are there oils that react badly to each other? Sorry so many questions, but I’ve been searching a lot and can’t seem to find any answers!
Hi Jill, I started following you on fb not even knowing you did oils. I joined the oil life in July. So glad you and some of the other people like Keto Mama are apart of this life style. It makes me trust the oils knowing the same people I gravitated to for other aspects in my life also share this life style. I look forward to a new life that blends so well with all my long term beliefs. Do you do any educational videos or anything I can learn from? I plan to build and want to learn from those who have done so well. Any tips would be great and today is a Citrus Explosion day here in the office thanks to your recipe. Have and Awesome Day!!
Sleep is one of the most important and restorative processes for our body, and when we don’t get a proper amount of restful, uninterrupted sleep that we need, there are quite a few negative effects on our overall health. Fortunately, there are many excellent essential oils for sleep, which can leave you refreshed, rested and ready to face the world.
No that was my question! I was worried those smells wouldn’t blend properly (Lavender as the primary + rosemary with a touch of oak moss which i know will be hard with oak moss absolute as being thick!-I’ve been warned thicker than vetiver!) and the idea of the dried herbs(rosemary and lavender) in jasmine rice together… would I get lucky on any advice for mixing those oils with a general ratio in mind or if my OG idea of drop count sounded possibly safe?
You can definitely add essential oils to lotion bases. The ratio will depend on the essential oils in the mix and how much area of the body they will cover. This will definitely require more research and perhaps consulting from an aromatherapist. There are also a lot of great books out there that teach you how to use essential oils in skin care products that could offer more information as well. Hope this answers your question!

For toddlers, using essential oils may be an alternative approach for sleep issues or deprivation. The most commonly used essential oils include chamomile, lavender, eucalyptus, and lemongrass. Users should obtain doctors approval prior to using any essential oils for toddler sleep issues. Talk to your doctor about proper dosing and the best method of delivery for your child.

The oils themselves are amazing! I diffuse them in my room and they create a very calm atmosphere. I love all of the oils except for the Thrive oil. For some reason I just hate the smell of it and and can't even open the bottle. That's not the oils fault though, that's just my personal preference I suppose. This set was a great way to find some new oils that I like and 5 out of the 6 were great! The rating would have been a 5 star if one of the oils didn't leak a bit in the packaging, but overall I'm really happy with my purchase.